Hedo Turkoglu

[=LarryLegend=]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I was reading rumors on hoopshype, and they were talking about Hedo ans Sac.

I am a fan of his, but with Hedo, Noc, Cisco, Greene...alot of 3s. although he does know carrils offense. and can play the 4 a little bit. still rumors.

Rubio, Beno, Bjax
Kmart, Cisco
Hedo, Greene
Thompson,
Hawes,

and two other picks...Omri...Mills...

looking pretty good.

http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm

[/FONT]

 

[Bricklayer]

I think they grabbed that from me given my advocacy of it since last summer.

Still say: draft Thabeet, sign Hedo, go Thabeet/Hawes/Thompson/Turkoglu/Nocioni/Cisco as a frontcourt, and that's a good one going forward. If it weren't for the softness of our backcourt maybe even one good enough to compete with the good teams.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I dont know. I like Turk's game and his skills for his size, but Im not sure he's the kind of guy we should target this offseason. He's going to want a lot of cash and I just think that money can be better spent elswhere ..

 

[bajaden]

Well, to add fuel to the fire, here's an article by ESPN's Marc Stein.

The best piece of player-movement gossip gleaned on my recent trip to Sacramento for Vlade Divac's jersey retirement involves one of Vlade's favorite ex-teammates.
Hedo Turkoglu.
Plugged-in sources say that making a run at bringing Turkoglu back to Sactown -- given Orlando's well-chronicled concerns about re-signing last season's NBA Most Improved Player award recipient and staying under the luxury tax -- holds great appeal to the Kings.
Yet that depends on Sacramento's willingness to spend this summer.
It remains to be seen if the increasingly cost-conscious Maloof Brothers, who authorized a flurry of payroll-slashing deals before the Feb. 19 trade deadline, are prepared to use their projected $7-plus million in salary-cap space to assemble a long-term offer to the 30-year-old.
Turkoglu is expected to opt out the final year of his current contract with the Magic, worth $7.4 million next season, to become a free agent July 1. He signed a six-year deal with Orlando in 2004 worth $39 million but is regarded as a much more mature and dangerous player than he was when he left Sacramento in the summer of 2003 in a three-team deal that landed Brad Miller with the Kings and sent Turkoglu to San Antonio.
Players adept at running Pete Carril's Princeton offense -- with Carril back on Sacramento's bench and expected to retain a role of prominence with the Kings whether or not they re-hire Eddie Jordan as their next full-time coach -- are sure to interest the Kings going forward. Although he acknowledges that Sacramento's young big men are raw, Carril has said that Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson have the potential to develop into a tandem resembling the Divac-Chris Webber duo if they keep progressing.
So it's not difficult to understand why trying to bring Turkoglu back has been discussed.
We also hit up Kings guard Bobby Jackson, another one of Vlade's ex-teammates, for his view on the team's struggles to secure a new arena deal and the prospect of the franchise relocating to Anaheim, Seattle, etc.
"I plan on being here," Jackson said. "I plan on coaching when I'm done, hopefully. … But it's tough, It's not like the old days."
Asked if he's worried about the Kings moving, Jackson said: "Of course. We've probably got the oldest arena in the league. Everybody has new arenas. If we don't get a new arena, you can't be anything but forced to leave.
"But this city has been good to the Kings and the Kings have been good to the city. So I don't see why we can't get something worked out. I know there's a recession right now and nobody wants to spend money. That's what it all boils down, too. But I just don't see this franchise going anywhere.
"Well … it can. But it wouldn't make sense with all the time [the Kings have] invested in here to go anywhere else."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090411-12

 

[asakkings]

Yea I would pass on a 3yr old SF, considering we already have 3 SFs.

 

[John Galt]

Yea I would pass on a 3yr old SF, considering we already have 3 SFs.

Now THAT is a yute movement!

 

[bajaden]

Yea I would pass on a 3yr old SF, considering we already have 3 SFs.

Yikes! He must have been a big baby. My sympathies to his mother.

 

[asakkings]

Yikes! He must have been a big baby. My sympathies to his mother.

lol yea, you know what i meant

 

[Larry89]

I can see a gigantic lineup of Thabeet/Hawes/Thompson/Hedo/Cisco

now thats size

 

[Bricklayer]

Plugged-in sources say that making a run at bringing Turkoglu back to Sactown -- given Orlando's well-chronicled concerns about re-signing last season's NBA Most Improved Player award recipient and staying under the luxury tax -- holds great appeal to the Kings.

Yep -- that's been exactly my theory on how the whole thing could potentially work from the start. Of course I wasn't counting on Hedo's team becoming a 60 game winner -- that might have a tendency to make a plyer want to stay.

 

[jdbraver]

He will be 30 this year, a bit old for this youth movement.

 

[Pangloss]

I don't get this idea at all (aside from some lingering nostalgia for the glory years). I cannot fathom spending 7+ mil per year, for four to five years, on a guy who-- fond memories aside, is thirty and has a field goal percentage clocking in at 41%.

Yes, some fans will be happy-- until they realize we have gone from being the worst team in the league, to a still terrible team that's maybe not quite bad enough to draft a real difference maker, and has managed to twice damn itself by once again imprudently spending its dollars. Many fans (I think rightly) kicked and screamed as the team wasted its mid-level exemption again and again. Both the fan-base and organization, low and behold, finally seemed to recognize the folly of acquiring players that did nothing but keep us from having either high enough draft picks or the financial flexibility to get us out of a Mitch Richmond era death-spiral( with the 7th pick in the NBA draft the Sacramento Kings select. . .. ). Somehow, after only one year(not quite since Beno got his contract) it seems some fans and perhaps the organization itself, are starting to lose the stomach to do what is necessary, and instead want to fall back to what would be easy.

"It's Hedo-- remember, from when we were good? Yay! What's that, we're signing Nate Robinson as well? It's like Spud Webb is a King again! This isn't a gimmick or pandering to the lowest common denominator at all!" Hey, maybe next year when the Kenny Thomas experience (think virulent std) has finally run its course, we can use the meager cap room we have to outbid some team to pull another mediocre player off the mid-level scrapheap. But at least the organization can claim, "look, see we're doing something, we're trying", when in fact such moves would have all the benefit of one of this teams patented fake-hustle charges after falling behind to the Clippers by 30.

What I want is for Geoff Petrie to come out before Kings nation and for him to be honest and forthright. To explain the situation the team finds itself in, neither sugarcoating our present circumstances, nor telling fans to expect puppy dogs and rainbows from here on out. Those cards on the table, he can explain that there are also genuine glimmers of hope in our young players, the upcoming draft picks, etc. Say there is reason for optimism going forward, and to trust that the team has a vision, and to plead for patience if the team doesn't sign this or that free-agent. The goal of the Kings organization, he might say, is nothing short of hanging a championship banner in our next arena's rafters, and that Kings fans should expect nothing less from their team. In short, to treat the fan base like grown-ups. Kings fans, in my opinion, would stick out a little more pain if Petrie approached them in such a fashion.

 

[NewMonkey]

I like Hedo, but he's too old, too expensive and too redundant for this team. At this point absolutely no free agents should be signed that are older than Kevin Martin.

 

[BMiller52]

His game doesn't rely on athleticism, he'll age perfectly fine. He's a good playmaker who can help make up for our PG struggles. He averages 5 APG. He can shoot 3s which would help us space the floor. He's developed into a clutch player. We NEED someone like Hedo back on this team. His familiarity with the Princeton O and his ability to handle+pass would make us a lot better. How often do you have a chance at a 20/5/5 guy?

 

[RiffRaff]

Hedo needs to stay out of Sac, he just doesn't fit into the new Sacramento plan. It definently has something to do with keeping Jason Thompson and Hawes as starters, Nocioni will stay, so will Kevin, only major change I see coming is a point guard.

 

[LPKingsFan]

The whole point of the 2010 cap plan was to sign a "glue" veteran a la Vlade, since LeBron, Bosh, etc are a pipe dream. Why not speed up the process a year and do it with Hedo? Still a major gap at PG, but there's the draft there, and other than Sessions not a lot of good PG answers in FA this year. If our picks don't pan out, there will be some more PGs out there with our remaining 2010 cash. Works for me.

 

[ParniValjak]

The whole point of the 2010 cap plan was to sign a "glue" veteran a la Vlade, since LeBron, Bosh, etc are a pipe dream. Why not speed up the process a year and do it with Hedo? Still a major gap at PG, but there's the draft there, and other than Sessions not a lot of good PG answers in FA this year. If our picks don't pan out, there will be some more PGs out there with our remaining 2010 cash. Works for me.

The only problem with that approach is that unlike the year we got Vlade, we just got our superstar, the centrepiece to build around in Webber. In reality, until we get that genuine superstar, the player we build around, there is no point spending the money on the glue guy.

I really like Hedo and I would like him back, but I think at some point, you have to stop getting complementary player and make a big splash on your centerpiece. If we are lucky enough to get one via the draft then we are set but I fear its not going to happen this year. We really picked a year to suck. Why couldn't we end up being a crappy team in a year of LeBron James or Dwight Howard?!

 

[BMiller52]

The only problem with that approach is that unlike the year we got Vlade, we just got our superstar, the centrepiece to build around in Webber. In reality, until we get that genuine superstar, the player we build around, there is no point spending the money on the glue guy.

I really like Hedo and I would like him back, but I think at some point, you have to stop getting complementary player and make a big splash on your centerpiece. If we are lucky enough to get one via the draft then we are set but I fear its not going to happen this year. We really picked a year to suck. Why couldn't we end up being a crappy team in a year of LeBron James or Dwight Howard?!

Well Blake Griffin, Rubio, Jennings, or Thabeet are going to have to make do then as the superstar. Because we can't just keep tanking forever.

 

[SacKings7]

Well Blake Griffin, Rubio, Jennings, or Thabeet are going to have to make do then as the superstar. Because we can't just keep tanking forever.

We're not tanking, we suck. Big difference

 

[ParniValjak]

Well Blake Griffin, Rubio, Jennings, or Thabeet are going to have to make do then as the superstar. Because we can't just keep tanking forever.

And I don't think any of those a true franchise players. There is no point in rushing the rebuild and endiig up as the 5-8th team in the west and never being a genuine contender. Whats the point of that?!

It called mediocrity. I rather suck and be the worst team in the league for 3 years straight and have something to show for it in a few years by being a genuine contender than to go for a quick fix and be the 5-8th in the west for 7 years straight

 

[Packt]

We're not tanking, we suck. Big difference

The tanking part happened when we knew we sucked and did nothing about it. In fact we made moves that can only be seen as exasperating the situation. The only surprise, if any was in how much we sucked.

No to Hedo. I am a fan, and thought he was underrated when on the Kings, but too old for us to be messing with at this point.

 

[gunks]

Gotta agree with that.

He's going to be 30 next season, and will probably want a 5 year deal. Considering the state of the team right now...By the time we're a legit playoff team Hedo will be an overpaid greybeard bench albatross, and everyone here on Kingsfans will be complaining about the signing.

 

[BMiller52]

And I don't think any of those a true franchise players. There is no point in rushing the rebuild and endiig up as the 5-8th team in the west and never being a genuine contender. Whats the point of that?!

It called mediocrity. I rather suck and be the worst team in the league for 3 years straight and have something to show for it in a few years by being a genuine contender than to go for a quick fix and be the 5-8th in the west for 7 years straight

If you do that then you won't have any fans and the team will move. You'll have to continually dump talent to stay at that level of terribleness. Sorry but that doesn't happen unless you're the Clippers, and look how far it's gotten them.

 

[vikinginferno]

If you do that then you won't have any fans and the team will move. You'll have to continually dump talent to stay at that level of terribleness. Sorry but that doesn't happen unless you're the Clippers, and look how far it's gotten them.

Well actually I can easily still see us being one of the worst teams next year and we might be able to get a "star" in that draft. I guess we can't really be thinking that far in the future though.

 

[wonjaeyou]

Hedo is a good player. I would definitely agree on signing Hedo if we were a legit contender right now. But since we just started to rebuild, there is no reason to sign 30 year old veteran who wants a maximum contract.

So No.

 

[Bricklayer]

Okay, where to begin here. First of all I have clearly been in the youth movement camp from the beginning. Heck, I might be one of the co-founders and have been complaining about the ridiculous middling veteran MLE patches from as far back as the Shareef signing. But yet I am not against signing Hedo, and in fact have been suggesting it since last summer. Hypocritical? Perhaps. But here are my reasons/what I am seeing:

1) the development of the young bigs in particular has me convinced that we wil not repeat the sort of performance we had this year. That does not mean we'll be good. It just means that barring injury I think having a prime shot at the #1 type pick next year is probably not going to happen. This is our nadir year.

2) We have too much talent to be threatening a 16 to 17 win season. Disorganization, lack of leadership, maturity and coaching have played a major part. Unless we truly do hire Whisenhant, in which case we are just hopeless, I fully expect at least soem of those issues to be addressed during the offseaon, and almost any veteran NBA coach should dramatically increase the organization. Even a nothing like Eddie Jordan knows how to get a team to .500.

3) The fanbase has completely tanked, in a bad economy, with an arena trying to get done. The Maloofs appear to be getting reengaged in an effort to turn things.

Put all those things together, add another high draft pick etc., and I have a hard time seeing us making a serious run at true awfulness next year. So, if we aren't going to do that (be awful and nab another Top 3 pick), what then? Well maybe you try to turn it.

And make no mistake, Hedo is a special case here. By dint of his past assocaition with the Kings it is almost guaranteed there will be a comfort level there. An attachement back to the good days. Bobby says he wants to come back. CWebb is publicly lobbying to become part of the front office. We could try to turn things surrounded by old friends, and guys who were winners. And as a player, Hedo is nice fit nearly anywhere -- he handles the ball, plays unselfishly, defends, has become a goto clutch player, does nto need to start to be very effective, knows the Princeton if that's where we are headed again, and just by dint of his prior stint here would become a leader, or at least a role model.

When we rebuilt heading into the golden years we signed a 29-30 yr old vet to help steady things. We just got done hanging his jersey from the rafters. Hedo is not Vlade, but the theory in signing him is the same. That he becomes a catalyst, an anchor (people forget too that we always maintained a lot of other vets to steady those early teams -- Barry and Mad Max and then Christie as the defensive catalyst etc.). Its actually the same reason why I have been touting Thabeet -- not because he will become a star, but because he might become a catalyst on defense. Have an effect greater than his own talent. In other threads I have been suggesting drafting Thabeet and signing Hedo as a possible way to go. Its not by accident. consider the roles:

Hawes (Vlade)
Thompson (Webb)
Thabeet (Pollard)
Hedo (Hedo)
Nocioni (Peja)

Its a return to those halcyon days of size and versatility, although never in a million years would I drink the JT=Webber Kool-Aid. But with Amare or Bosh potentially out there, I have proposed potential packages to get them centered around JT and our #1 next year. How about:

Hawes (Vlade)
Bosh/Stoudemire (Webb)
Thabeet (Pollard)
Hedo (Hedo)
Nocioni (Peja)

In any case I think Hedo is a winner. And even all these years later he's still kind of our winner. I think Nocioni is a winner in the right place. I think Cisco could be a winner if you remove him from a decisionmaking capacity -- he wants to win, likes the big shot. So rather than center being the spot with our veteran leadership, make it SF. Stack up winners at that spot, surround them with young kids with energy. Hire a real coach. I legitimately think you could turn it. Sans that superstar, one day we would top out. But I don't think we really have much shot of waiting around long enough to get him wihtout some lucky injuries, or intentionally putting together a lousy team. You don't want to get caught wallowing. You need ot get bad, need to clear out the debris and start over. But you don't want to get stuck. The successful rebuilds almost always "bounce".

I completely know where people are coming rom who worry about Hedo's age. Its a good argument, and one I would agree with for just about any other player of his age/level. But I can't help but think this might be a special case. A kernel, if you will, of the rebuild.

 

[ParniValjak]

Okay, where to begin here. First of all I have clearly been in the youth movement camp from the beginning. Heck, I might be one of the co-founders and have been complaining about the ridiculous middling veteran MLE patches from as far back as the Shareef signing. But yet I am not against signing Hedo, and in fact have been suggesting it since last summer. Hypocritical? Perhaps. But here are my reasons/what I am seeing:

1) the development of the young bigs in particular has me convinced that we wil not repeat the sort of performance we had this year. That does not mean we'll be good. It just means that barring injury I think having a prime shot at the #1 type pick next year is probably not going to happen. This is our nadir year.

2) We have too much talent to be threatening a 16 to 17 win season. Disorganization, lack of leadership, maturity and coaching have played a major part. Unless we truly do hire Whisenhant, in which case we are just hopeless, I fully expect at least soem of those issues to be addressed during the offseaon, and almost any veteran NBA coach should dramatically increase the organization. Even a nothing like Eddie Jordan knows how to get a team to .500.

3) The fanbase has completely tanked, in a bad economy, with an arena trying to get done. The Maloofs appear to be getting reengaged in an effort to turn things.

Put all those things together, add another high draft pick etc., and I have a hard time seeing us making a serious run at true awfulness next year. So, if we aren't going to do that (be awful and nab another Top 3 pick), what then? Well maybe you try to turn it.

And make no mistake, Hedo is a special case here. By dint of his past assocaition with the Kings it is almost guaranteed there will be a comfort level there. An attachement back to the good days. Bobby says he wants to come back. CWebb is publicly lobbying to become part of the front office. We could try to turn things surrounded by old friends, and guys who were winners. And as a player, Hedo is nice fit nearly anywhere -- he handles the ball, plays unselfishly, defends, has become a goto clutch player, does nto need to start to be very effective, knows the Princeton if that's where we are headed again, and just by dint of his prior stint here would become a leader, or at least a role model.

When we rebuilt heading into the golden years we signed a 29-30 yr old vet to help steady things. We just got done hanging his jersey from the rafters. Hedo is not Vlade, but the theory in signing him is the same. That he becomes a catalyst, an anchor (people forget too that we always maintained a lot of other vets to steady those early teams -- Barry and Mad Max and then Christie as the defensive catalyst etc.). Its actually the same reason why I have been touting Thabeet -- not because he will become a star, but because he might become a catalyst on defense. Have an effect greater than his own talent. In other threads I have been suggesting drafting Thabeet and signing Hedo as a possible way to go. Its not by accident. consider the roles:

Hawes (Vlade)
Thompson (Webb)
Thabeet (Pollard)
Hedo (Hedo)
Nocioni (Peja)

Its a return to those halcyon days of size and versatility, although never in a million years would I drink the JT=Webber Kool-Aid. But with Amare or Bosh potentially out there, I have proposed potential packages to get them centered around JT and our #1 next year. How about:

Hawes (Vlade)
Bosh/Stoudemire (Webb)
Thabeet (Pollard)
Hedo (Hedo)
Nocioni (Peja)

In any case I think Hedo is a winner. And even all these years later he's still kind of our winner. I think Nocioni is a winner in the right place. I think Cisco could be a winner if you remove him from a decisionmaking capacity -- he wants to win, likes the big shot. So rather than center being the spot with our veteran leadership, make it SF. Stack up winners at that spot, surround them with young kids with energy. Hire a real coach. I legitimately think you could turn it. Sans that superstar, one day we would top out. But I don't think we really have much shot of waiting around long enough to get him wihtout some lucky injuries, or intentionally putting together a lousy team. You don't want to get caught wallowing. You need ot get bad, need to clear out the debris and start over. But you don't want to get stuck. The successful rebuilds almost always "bounce".

I completely know where people are coming rom who worry about Hedo's age. Its a good argument, and one I would agree with for just about any other player of his age/level. But I can't help but think this might be a special case. A kernel, if you will, of the rebuild.

And look thats a possible path BUT, I still think you need to get that star before you top it off with a Hedo signing.

The way I see it, the number 1 thing would be to get the Amare/Bosh thing sorted out, then make a spash for Hedo! Making a spash for Hedo in the hope of getting Amare/Bosh afterwards is a bit of a risky move that could set us back for longer that if we stayed pat for another year.

 

[Fear the Putin]

I can see a gigantic lineup of Thabeet/Hawes/Thompson/Hedo/Cisco

now thats size

thats not size...thats beastliness

 

[DoDiGaG0]

flame away but Hedo's not much better than Salmons...he's just on a team/system that fits him perfectly

 

[VF21]

There won't be any flaming... Which I'm sure you're already awre of. Your comment isn't worthy of flaming; it's more worthy of ridicule but why bother?